Orchids Made of Sand
by CaideSin
Summary: And so the castles made of sand slip into the sea, eventually. [AU, HatoriKyo]
1. Chapter 1

**Wednesday, December 13, 2000**

The young Western lady showed up at the gates entirely unannounced. She rang the bell, said her name, had no business, and was told to go away.

The message of her arrival was immediately relayed to Akito who dismissed it just as quickly as it had come.

The girl trudged away, a sack, which held all her possessions, set on her back.

She caught a bus and headed into town to get set up in a hotel. As she sat down people scooted away from her. Deep in their subconscious, a voice warned them of danger and the power she held bottled up inside her small frame.

She brushed a dark twist of hair from her eyes and smiled.

She'd gotten here before him.

xxxxx

Kyo cracked open one demon eye slowly. Sun glittered through the slits in his blinds and the boy groaned. Time to get up for another slightly less than wonderful day. He could hear the patter of Tohru's feet in the hall. She'd probably been up for hours already, cooking and cleaning for three of the long lost Seven Dwarves: lazy, sleepy, and perverted moron. Another groan and he forced himself to his feet. Stretching the sleep out of his lanky teenaged body.

This early in the morning his thoughts were sluggish and inconsequential. The constantly looming threat of his Curse was secondary to getting a glass of milk. Even his dreaded rival was unimportant in the grand scheme of things or, at the very least, first thing in the morning.

He made his way noisily down the wooden stairs, pausing on the way to let out a vicious yawn.

The floor was suspiciously cold in the kitchen…and Kyo found Tohru Honda trying to shoo a stray dog out of the house. The beast was ignoring her and rooting about happily through the kitchen trashcan.

Kyo stomped over to the creature, crouched down beside it and hissed. It looked up at him suspiciously then bared its teeth at the foolish cat that would dare try to challenge it. Kyo smacked it across the nose, his hand like a feline claw. The dog yelped and fled the scene.

The teenage boy stood as if nothing had happened. He moved to the cabinets to get a glass. On his way to the fridge he paused, looked at the mess of trash on the tiled floor, then to the young girl he lived with.

"Are you going to clean that up?" he wondered dryly.

A flush crept to her cheeks. "Yes, yes, of course!" she exclaimed and bent low to begin pushing the refuse back into the bin. She was the live-in House Keeper after all! What on Earth was she doing just staring at the garbage?

After he shut the kitchen door and drank his glass of milk, Kyo shambled back up the stairs to begin preparing for school. Yuki could laze about in early morning stupor all he wanted, but Kyo was most certainly not letting Tohru do all the work around here!

Outside it was a dry, biting day. The weatherman's cheery voice pouring from the radio speakers said it would be 2˚C, at the most, once the sun was all the way up.

Not the warmest of weather, but Tohru simply bundled her two friends up in coats before they set out for on the short trek to their High School.

The forest that their home sat in was long since devoid of leaves on the branches. The wind made the brittle limbs rustle raucously.

It was just background noise in the face of Tohru's voice. Conversation was never scarce with her around.

"I can't believe our English projects are due in only two days," she cried softly, pushing up her shoulders to keep some of the cold air off her already rosy cheeks.

"Have you started yet, Miss Honda?" Yuki inquired. It had taken being dragged out of the warm confines of his bedroll, but he was awake now.

"No, I've been so busy with work and other things," Tohru confessed, her large, brown, doe eyes tearing up with disappointment in herself and frustration.

Yuki met her gaze and smiled, "I am already done, I would be happy to help you."

Kyo kept his peace. His orange hair bristling with the indignation of someone who believes himself slighted. Entirely unreasonable as he hasn't even finished his own English assignment. Why would anyone want to write a paper of censorship anyways?

"Oh, no, Yuki!" the girl protested, blushing scarlet and clapping her hands to her cheeks in an attempt to hide herself. "You're so busy! With Student Council and your own work! I was going to work on it this morning after I made breakfast but there was this dog and it was eating all the trash!"

A strange look passed over Yuki's usually cucumber cool features. He had no idea about the dog and decided that this was one of those moments where he didn't need to ask. Tohru rambled on at times.

They neared the school and split apart after bidding their goodbyes. Tohru had to find her best friends, Uotani and Hanajima. Yuki had a new Student Council to wrangle and Kyo simply preferred to be alone.

His classmates nixed his plan when they commandeered him for a game of kickball. He was the most athletic in the class next to Yuki, mockingly called the Prince because he was good at everything: studies, sports, charm, and good looks.

Automatically the rival of every boy in school, though he never wanted to be. He could hide his intelligence and fitness, but never his looks. He had existential beauty: a thin face, large gray eyes, and soft silvery hair to frame it all. All a direct result of his Curse.

When Yuki got to the Student Council room he found it empty. Typical, he snorted in disgust. He set his folder of documents on a nearby desk and moved to the window to watch and wait.

He could see Kimi babbling away with a group of friends, Kakeru was playing kickball with the other boys and there was no sign of Sakuragi or Machi.

Yuki watched Kakeru throw his hands up when he failed to tag Kyo out. It seemed that another family member was down there…if the spiky white and black hair was any sign, it was Hatsuharu. Momiji, sat at the sideline cheering enthusiastically.

Yuki would have to have a word with Kakeru later. Either he didn't show up for the meetings or he slept through them…

The door slid open and Machi Kuragi and Naoto Sakuragi appeared. Both of who seemed slightly abashed to arrive after him.

"Shall we get started then?" Their leader forced a smile on his face.

xxxxx

It had admittedly been a long trip. He'd made his way here by sea, walking along the bottom, leaving a trail of chaos and blight in his wake. He was grateful to finally immerge on Japan's smooth beaches.

He smiled at those who stared and rained shadows down upon them.

He marched up the beaches, leaving deep footprints in the sand. The man made his way to the roads with no other plans but to follow them to where they led.

He'd been here once, long before.

He smiled broadly, showing all of his perfectly white teeth.

A visit was long overdue.

xxxxx

The bell rang for school and students flooded to the locker room. The Holiday Break was only a few more weeks away and excitement flowed like wine making them fuzzy headed and time slow as if to spite them. The countdown was on 9 more days.

Happy, adolescent voices echoed over the clang of lockers and the scuffle of shoes.

"Let's go Christmas shopping, okay?"

"Finals! Finals are in only two weeks! We have to study hard!"

"I saw this awesome new game! Come check it out with me?"

"I don't know what gift to get for Junko! Come over for dinner and help me think?"

"Come over for dinner, okay, Hatsuharu, Momiji?" Tohru requested with a grin. The two cousins looked at each other thoughtfully.

"I most definitely cannot pass up a free meal." Though they were both 16, Haru was the taller of the two by nearly a foot.

Little Momiji looked near to tears. "I have violin lessons today! But I'll cancel it for you, Tohru?"

"Oh, no, Momiji," Tohru soothed him, crouching down beside the distraught teenager and petting his mop of hair. "You go to practice. We'll miss you, but there will be other chances and you love violin." Momiji sniffled like a child, mere inches from flat out bawling.

He was still crying and Tohru was near tears as well when they finally parted ways.

Despite the chill air of the late afternoon, their party stayed carefully spread out.

Kyo still hating Yuki and Yuki still hating Kyo. Haru loved to tease Yuki, but the other boy found it quite creepy and kept his distance. Kyo thought it was obnoxious and wanted to beat Haru down for being a perverted brat.

Tohru chuckled at their behaviour and they all cast her a confused look. Of course her amusement was infectious and they were at least smiling when they got back to their secluded home in the woods.

The actual owner of the house bounded from his study to relay a message to Tohru. Her grandfather had asked to see her again…Tohru gasped and rushed up the stairs to call her Aunt who lived with him.

Grandpa was still bedridden after a back injury that had long since healed. He was old and ill and,

"Of course! I'll come right away!" she said, a bit too loudly, and then hung up the telephone in haste. She rushed to her bedroom, sloppily changing into her street clothes, and then running down the stairs to where her shoes waited. "I'm so sorry, Grandpa needs me! I have to go…Oh, I could make dinner before I go and…"

"I can make dinner," Kyo chimed in solemnly. He was an amazing cook, but he despised all chores that were even remotely domestic. His cousin's looked at him in surprise, but declined to comment.

"Will you be needing someone to walk home with you, Miss Honda?" Yuki asked her gently.

"Oh, no…no, that's too much trouble!" she tried to wave it off, fumbling helplessly with her shoelaces.

"It will be late, Tohru," Shigure protested under the guise of a concerned adult but only gullible, naïve Tohru was fooled. "You should allow at least one of us to come get you."

His teenage relatives turned dry stares on him. She needed an escort for protection and Shigure, with his penchant for schoolgirls, was more likely to accost her than anyone else.

"I will," Yuki stated simply. Kyo growled, but decided against protesting. It was a precedent. Yuki usually walked Tohru home from work, why not now as well? Well…that didn't mean Kyo had to like it, dammit!

The redhead stomped towards the kitchen to begin making the night's meal. He called a very terse, "See ya," over his shoulder.

Tohru obviously wouldn't be working on her English project tonight…

For dinner that night, as any self-respecting feline would, Kyo made his favorite seafood dish. Definitely revenge on Yuki, who often found the smell of salmon overwhelming.

Shigure came to the dinner table with a bloody face. His adolescent housemate had punched him in the kitchen when he'd quite innocently, and playfully groped him. He often took such jokes too far and no one particularly appreciated it. Aside from one of his best friends, Ayame, who tended to take jokes even further.

"What about the dog this morning?" Yuki inquired, wrinkling his nose in distaste and picking around the smelly fish. Kyo sent the question to the resident adult with a look somewhat similar to a thrown knife.

"It wasn't me, Kyo," Shigure whined.

"Who else could it have been?" Haru wondered around a mouthful of food.

"The door could have been left open," the man pointed out.

"And who would have done that?" the Prince rolled his eyes.

Shigure frowned, appearing stumped as to how to defend himself, before he fell back on the oldest trick in the book.

"You have such little faith in me! How cruel, how horrible!"

"Exactly," the teenagers chimed.

"Even if you are our elder," Haru added before Shigure even had a chance to say it.

Shigure laid the dramatics on thick for the rest of the night, sighing and whining. He was ignored by the other three entirely. When they'd all finished eating, Kyo announced he was definitely not doing the dishes. It was unanimously agreed that it should be Shigure's chore. The man bitched and moaned a bit more, but Yuki went to get his coat and get Tohru, while Kyo went upstairs to take a bath. Haru told the man tough luck and followed Kyo up the stairs.

xxxxx

She found her way to a nice hotel and checked in.

Larissa Meyers in room 216, one queen sized bed and an order for tea brought up to the room.

The lady, the concierge mused, spoke very fluent Japanese. He had honestly been surprised. When a woman with short, curly, hair and large, blue eyes comes in, one assumes she is not Japanese.

She asked simply for a room for one with a large bed and said she was not sure how long she would be staying, but would pay for three-days in advance.

Her tea was delivered up to her room promptly. She dragged an armchair over to the window and settled into it with her tea. Simply watching the bustle that was Tokyo before she had to go out in a few hours…

For now she could only wait, but soon there would be no time.

xxxxx

Haru followed his older cousin into the bathroom. Kyo ignored him for the most part, locking the door and beginning the water. As the tub filled, he began to remove his clothes. Haru leaned back against the door and watched, not saying a word.

When Kyo's tanned body slipped out of sight into the water, Haru began to pull off his clothes. When exposed his body was white, a polar opposite for Kyo's bronze. He climbed into the tub beside Kyo and pulled the redhead close to him. The other teenage settled back against him, their skin sliding pleasantly. Kyo let his head fall back to his cousin's shoulder with a sigh.

"Remind me why you're here again?" Kyo mumbled.

"Same reason as last time, Kyo," Haru rumbled in his ear.

"You haven't made up with Rin?"

"You haven't confessed to Tohru," the younger boy shot back, and then nibbled tenderly on the carrottop's neck. Kyo arched like a cat being scratched. He never started out comfortable with Haru, but the kid was experienced, suspiciously so and as soon as he began to touch him reason flew out the window.

They shouldn't have been doing what they were. They were family, as diluted as the blood was by time and the immense size of their clan. They were both males, although neither of them particularly homophobic, the rest of the world had to be taken into account. Then there was Akito. Akito wanted them for himself, didn't want them sharing with each other. Didn't want them touched by anyone.

The pressure was too much for two lonely teenage boys who both faced trials beyond that of normal adolescence.

Their Curse kept them far from the comforting arms of the women they desired.

Haru loved Rin, but if Akito knew he would probably kill her. Rin withdrew from him to protect him, intent on stopping the Curse.

Kyo loved Tohru, but if he entered the warm circle of her embrace…he transformed into an orange cat.

Both boys were cast out by the outside world, but Kyo was forsaken, even within the ranks of the Cursed; an outsider even to the Zodiac and the God. Led to believe no one would care until Tohru came. Even then he couldn't have her. Haru took her place, drew Kyo in close to him while he was separated from his own heart's dear.

Haru splayed his hands over the Cat's chest, stroking wet flesh until the older was squirming.

"H-haru…stop?"

The boy possessed of the Ox stilled, reluctant and disappointed when Kyo pulled away to turn the taps off. Then the redhead twisted, looking at him with his peculiar eyes, he was on his knees, hands balanced at his gravity's center. He was just staring and Haru raised one snow-white eyebrow in invitation.

"Like what you see? Then get over here."

Kyo scowled back at him dangerously. "I don't like how we use each other."

"It isn't using," Haru whispered, leaning forward to take the other in his arms. "We both agree that we're _helping _each others."

"Your definition of helping each other is _you_ jerking _me_ off," the Feline hissed in his ear.

"I don't do anything you don't want me to," the younger fellow replied calmly. "I don't do anything you can't handle."

"What do you get out of this?" Kyo demanded, jerking back from him, sloshing water, he was getting cold sitting up out of the water like this.

"The satisfaction of helping you?" Haru suggested.

"I don't need you to feel bad for me!" Kyo was not looking for any fucking charity!

"Is that what I said?"

The redhead held perfectly still then leaned forward once more, pressing his lips tentatively to the Ox's.

"I'm not a child, I don't need to be taken care of I just want to be cared for," he murmured.

"Isn't that what I do?" Haru wondered, flicking his tongue over the other's lower lip.

"Don't you want the same thing?"

"Kyo, are you asking me to have sex with you?"

They kept themselves liplocked neither of them willing to look the other in the eye during this strange conversation.

"I don't want to use people, I want you to get the same things I do," the Cat clarified.

"You can't use the willing,"

"You can't rape them either," Kyo didn't know how he could make it any clearer. He wanted Haru. He wanted Haru to touch him; he wanted to touch Haru. He wanted to kiss Haru because he cared about him. It was different from how he felt for Tohru. He didn't love Haru and Haru didn't love him, but he could still have Haru if he wanted, he would still be hurt if Haru betrayed him. He could push Haru up against the edge of the tub and rub up against him if he so chose.

The ability to choose was possibly the most arousing part of the whole scenario.

Haru paused to consider what Kyo was saying very seriously, then grabbed the lithe body and dragged it to him.

"That is a very tempting offer," he said, licking a slow line up the tepid flesh of Kyo's neck. The redhead squirmed ignominiously in his cousin's lap. His desire for the Bovine had been building with their time together. The kinder Haru was, the more Kyo felt himself burn to repay the favor; to worm his way into the sanctuary of the younger teen's arms.

Haru groaned, his kindheartedness paling in comparison to his lust.

"The others are out…" Kyo whispered, enticing him.

"Don't freak out if you bleed," Haru growled low in his throat.

xxxxx

As the sun went down, he continued to walk down the road. Small Japanese cars full of small Japanese people continued to zoom past him. Not a one stopped to offer him a ride into the city.

Several swerved off the highway and burst into flames under the watch of his dark eyes, set to a slant in his round face. The flames flickered and danced off his olive skin.

The bright lights of the city were finally beginning to peak out over the country hills. He would be able to catch a train soon.

Tokyo was waiting.

xxxxx

With the setting of the sun, the temperature only decreased. It was to be expected in December, but Yuki still found himself grumbling about it within the confines of his head.

Of course, he could never complain about going to get Tohru. Just the weather, which was currently making it so that he wasn't sure if his toes were still present in his shoes. He kept plodding along down the street, so apparently they had not just disappeared off the face of the planet.

He blew out a shuddering train of breath and tried to cover his entire face with the collar of his coat. He failed miserably and looked a bit ridiculous, but he didn't care at the moment. He was alone out on the street, no one could see him.

The boy who held the spirit of the Rat inside his small body passed under a street lamp and paused. He looked up at the sky…a few gauzy clouds hung over the moon and stars…Dark clouds. He hoped it would snow. That would make Tohru happy. He let himself smile, something that had always been rare with him but since Miss Honda's introduction to his life the rarity had been decreasing.

He felt a thrill shoot through him and he took off at a run. Nothing particularly fast as to aggravate his asthma, just to speed up his heart rate and warm his veins.

He came to a stop before the small house and huffed for breath as he went to ring the bell. Tohru's aunt opened the door to find the beautiful boy standing there, rosy cheeked and expectant.

"I came to pick up Miss Honda," he said softly, bowing slightly, taught to have good manners. "If you would please be so kind as to tell her I am here?"

"Tohru," the woman called, with a bit less disdainful than usual. "Someone is here to get you!"

The scrambling and crashing left no question as to whether or not Tohru had heard. The brunette appeared in the door eyes wide as she frantically tried to get coat and shoes on in record time.

"Oh, Yuki, you didn't have to come!" she repeated several times as she flailed with the zipper of her jacket. The Rodent waited silently on the stoop for her, a small smile painted on his face.

At last she conquered her coat, ran back inside to say goodbye to her grandfather then returned, still blushing furiously.

"How is he?" her taller friend inquired gently.

A frown pursed her lips, a disturbing look on her face. "He's very tired."

Yuki took a deep breath, unsure of how to comfort her, so he simply continued on at her side silently for a little while. "Tomorrow, in the morning, we should work on your English project."

"Oh no!" she gasped, "I forgot about it again…now I only have one day to do it…"

"I think if we talk with Ms. Shiraki she will give you a bit more time," Yuki suggested.

"No, no, I forgot! I should get it done in the same time as everyone else," Tohru shook her head vehemently.

"I will still help you anyway, Miss Honda," the young man chuckled. A snowflake dropped unceremoniously onto his nose and he stopped mid-chortle. He and Tohru stopped in the circle of light from a streetlamp, tilting their heads back to look at the sky.

"Oh! How lovely! Yuki…it's snowing…" she breathed out happily. Clouds of condensation came from her mouth, and her cheeks turned red with pleasure. She looked at him, brown eyes sparkling delightedly. He grinned back at her, unable to help himself.

The stomp of feet broke the spell that had been cast. They turned to look down the street. A woman was running towards them and slamming right into Yuki, embracing him tightly. Tohru made a surprised sound and hurried to try and diffuse the situation. Yuki was already transforming in the woman's arms!

Yuki squeaked in mousy surprise. When the dust that accompanied his transformation had cleared he was sitting in someone's hands, staring up into a pair of large sparkling blue eyes; full lips quirked in amusement.

"Excuse me," the lady said politely, offering the Rat over to Tohru who was completely flabbergasted. Once the girl took back possession of her friend, the woman bent down to gather up the teenage boy's fallen clothes. She folded them neatly and hung them over Tohru's arm. "My apologies," the strange woman said brightly then walked away, leaving Tohru standing in the snow still stunned.

"Miss Honda?" Yuki asked worriedly. When she made no response he repeated himself. "Miss Honda?"

"Oh! Yes! Yuki! Are you all right!" she asked, her features drawn with anxiety.

"I am fine, but I do not know how long I will stay transformed, can you hurry home?" He hated to ask her to run or anything like that, as she was a horrible athlete, but what else could he do? If he changed back outdoors he would be naked in the snow!

"Yes! I will run my hardest!" Tohru declared, then steadied Yuki in her hands and took off through the snow. Her breath puffing in time with the _crunch, crunch_ of snow beneath her boots.

As she ran Yuki thought about what he would do. Someone had seen him transform. When Cursed children were young that was one of the first things they were warned about. Never, ever, let anyone see you transform. That foreigner though…she hadn't seemed surprised. That seemed to be the reaction she was looking for…what she was testing for. Yet, she'd seemed a little disappointed as she walked away, as if he wasn't the one she was looking for.

Yuki should tell Akito, but he was loath to do so. The family head was unpredictable, insane at best; there was no telling what that news would bring.

The Rodent concluded that he would get Shigure's advice in the morning.

xxxxx

_Wild. Everything around him felt wild. He felt wild. His blood thundered in his veins. The smell of wild orchids assaulted his nose, making his eyes water…He wanted to run…to fly. To cast aside any illusions of being human and just take to the skies._

_He felt his flesh unravel. Scales, horns, whiskers, talons, tail. All felt so natural as if they'd always been. He was rising up to the dark grayish blue of the nighttime sky. The moon was hidden behind light barely lingering wisps of cloud. _

_Up here the smell of flowers was even stronger. It made his chest ache and his throat tighten. He pressed on faster, clawing the air to fly faster. To escape the scent, overpower it with a rush of cold air up his nose. _

_As he struggled, the smell did began to dissipate…and on the horizon rose a red star, brilliant and shining, different from the others, not truly planet or star. It pulsed and his blood coursed to answer. _

_He was falling from the sky…he pushed forward, trying to get there to that magnificent point in the sky…but he was enveloped by that smell again…heat stifled him and he was hard pressed to draw breath…_

xxxxx

Hatori awoke with a start. He didn't remember falling asleep…His hand was still clutched around a pen and he sat at the chair behind his desk. He must have dozed off and been awoken by the ringing of the telephone. He hurried to his feet, regretting it as his body protested, leaving him momentarily lightheaded. It was terrifyingly reminiscent of the dream he could now barely remember. He reached the phone on the third ring, praying they wouldn't hang up.

"Hello? Hatori Sohma."

"Tori?" It was Hatsuharu. "Are you alright, you sound ragged?"

"I am all right, what do you need?" the doctor, who cradled a Dragon within his soul, pressed. He hoped to return to sleep soon.

"I stayed a bit too long at Shigure's house and I need a ride home. "

Hatori looked for the clock. It was 10:00 already? How long had he dozed off? "A bit too long, indeed."

"I could stay here for the night, but my clothes are back at the Compound—"

"I will come get you," the man interrupted his younger cousin. Hatsuharu thanked him and they placed their phones back in their cradles.

A grating yawn worked its way from Tori's mouth and he rubbed the last of his nap from his eyes before going in search of his keys.

Why hadn't Shigure, his best friend, made note of what time it was for the Ox and saved the poor doctor some trouble? Hatori wasn't even sure why he bothered to ask. The answer was simple Shigure was a dog: a carefree, irresponsible, mutt.

Hatori made an irritated noise as he slipped his shoes on at the door then draped a coat over his shoulders. He noted, as he made his way to the car, that it had started to snow while he slept.

He drove through the quiet—empty but for snow—streets, and his mind was much in the same state. He hoped he would be able to fall back asleep after dropping Haru off at his own home.

Hatori felt a peculiar itch in his skin. Not a physical one, it was a restlessness that penetrated his body, but not the depths of his mind, which remained inconspicuously blank.

The snowflakes fell onto the windshield of his car and melted almost immediately from the blasts of warm air that came from the vents. Hatori almost wanted to turn it off. A completely arbitrary whim…almost as if he would be preserving the little droplets of ice's lives, silly as that sounded.

He couldn't even find it in the blank chalkboard of his mind to hum a toneless song as he drove…After seeing no one in the streets, he finally came to the turn into the weald that led to Shigure's secluded home.

He navigated the dark twists of the narrow road and at last came upon the house. Most of the lights were out, so he decided against honking the horn for Hatsuharu. Instead he forsook the warmth of his car and got out to rap gently on the wooden door.

Much to the Dragon's surprise, Shigure answered the, looking wide-awake despite the late hour.

"My dear friend, Hatori," he crooned in his teasing, lilting, voice. "What a pleasant surprise."

"I am here to pick up Hatsuharu, is he ready to go?" Tori replied flatly.

"I'm coming!" the teenager called from the living room where he was lacing up his boots. He appeared behind the Dog a moment later, ready to go.

"Hatori, you never come just to visit me anymore," Shigure whined, clutching at his sleeve as if that would make the doctor stay. Quite the contrary, the taller man drew his arm away, green eyes flashing with disgust.

"Goodnight, Shigure," he said coldly. He often wondered why Shigure and even worse the last third of their trio, Ayame, were his friends when they were such immature morons. He and Haru got into the car and drove away.

"I'm sorry it's so late," Haru murmured, sounding only a little bit apologetic.

"What kept you so late?" Hatori questioned.

The Ox was quiet for a moment, an obscene grin on his face. "Nothing in particular," he decided, face sobering quickly.

The man cast the boy a suspicious look, but decided he had no interest in what debauchery Haru had been up to this time. The ox was not the best behaved of kids. Just looking at him one could tell. He had wild hair, piercings, collars, and cuffs.

The rest of their drive home was in silence, though this one not nearly as peaceful as before. Hatori wanted to open the windows and let the chill in. He wanted to feel the little flecks of ice against his face.

They made it back to the Sohma family compound without any trouble. Hatori dropped the teen off at his home, and then went back to his own humble abode.

After he parked his car…he walked slowly towards the front door. He simply stopped about halfway there. He held out his hands and let the snowflakes fall there. He watched them melt into miserable little dots of moisture.

He tried to feel sentimental. About Kana and the snow…but he simply felt restless. His skin felt hot despite the fact that it was December and he was standing in the snow.

Maybe that was a good sign. Maybe he was finally moving on. Letting the past be the past and accepting that no matter how much he loved Kana, circumstances had gotten in the way. He could be happy with his new life, just like she was.

* * *

**Standard Disclaimers**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thursday, December 14, 2000**

_Warm. It was warm and dry and sandy. Rocks crumbled as he slid his hand over them. Crumbled into piles of sediment and dirt. Few plants grew, only hardy little shrubs and a few thin, pathetic looking trees. It was a narrow passageway, the ground, baked by years and years of sun, had the grooves from many wheels engraved into it. _

_The sun was at its zenith, but the heat was unremarkable. An arid breeze blew past, sending strange chills down his spine. He walked along the path, his hand trailing beside him along the wall, dust following the brush of his fingertips. Overhead the sky was blue but out on the horizon dark clouds gathered. _

_He moved toward them, drawn and fascinated by them. If he continued toward them he would eventually leave this steep tapered valley and he would immerge in the woods…He wanted to run. His skin itched to run! But he continued to walk, one foot in front of the other over the uneven terrain._

_More grass began to appear and his blood resonated loudly. The song almost drowning out the sudden thunder that surround him. He looked and there was a screaming horde of nightmares descending down the slopes. They were clawed, with vicious teeth and their glinting eyes left no question as to their intent. _

_He stiffened, frozen for a moment but the pumping of his blood rose and he felt the madness sweep over him, a white-hot joy at the chance to kill them. Demon to demon, his claws raked through shadowy sinew, and his fangs bit into the flesh that tasted like Hellfire. _

_The dark blood of the enemy splattered the dry walls of the canyon. He feels the sting in his flanks where one of them had injured him…He kicked out, knocking them back, breaking whatever resided in the cavity of their chest. _

_The battle was sweet and he sang as he slaughtered them…_

xxxxx

Kyo awoke to a delicious ache throughout his entire body. He wriggled in his bedroll, listening for the satisfying pop of his back before getting up. He was sore, but it felt wonderful, like he'd just been working out. He smiled a little bit to himself, a dark feral smile. He supposed what he'd actually done _could_ be compared to a workout.

He was about to make his way downstairs for his usual glass of milk when he noticed how quiet it was in the house. He didn't hear Tohru moving about which struck him as odd. He searched for his clock. 3:00 in the morning? He blinked his eyes quickly; to make sure he was seeing it right.

With a resigned sigh, he looked around his darkened room. He wanted to do something…he wanted to go outside, into the dark and the cold…Kyo went quietly downstairs for his shoes. He slipped into them without socks and then headed out the door. His legs were cold in his shorts, his skin bristled but it felt good. He took a deep breath, letting the crisp air fill his lungs and sear his throat.

It had stopped snowing since the night before, there were perhaps four inches of powdery frost that he sunk into. Snow seeped into his sneakers as he began to run. Just to move, just to be active to make the sore muscles of his legs work. To appease the fiery agitation that was making his whole body tingle. To run blind through the forest that he knew like the back of his hand after living here all these years!

Just to run in the dark hours of the morning.

He came back to the house when the sun was just beginning to peak over the indefinable line of the horizon. As his legs had warmed and loosened, he'd run faster and faster until he was completely winded and his cheeks were flushed. When his body burned for lack of oxygen he snowballed to a walk.

When he returned to his home…he felt the urge to take off and do it all over again, but he resisted firmly. He kicked the excess snow off his shoes at the porch and went back inside. The warmth of indoors assaulted him like a battering ram.

Tohru peaked her head out of the kitchen when she heard the front door open and close again. A look of interest and confusion passed over her face.

"Good morning, Kyo," she called as she ducked back behind the wall to continue making everyone's lunch.

"Hey," he replied flatly, taking his shoes off and ambling towards her, still in his pajamas, sweaty things now after his run.

"What were you doing this morning? Training?" the girl wondered as she scooped several handfuls of rice from the cooker.

"Running," the Cat replied diffidently. The rich smell of the rice made him think of food, but he found himself neither hungry nor thirsty. "How is your old man?" he remembered belatedly.

"He'll be stuck in bed for a while yet," she confessed in a whisper. Kyo looked at her, the beginnings of empathy stirring within him. He had watched his own mother fade away, crazy with grief and fear. He couldn't bring himself to comfort her though. Something seized frantically at his heart and he just kept his mouth shut.

"I'm going to change," he announced, turning on heel to march up the stairs.

"Uhm, Kyo? Would you knock on Yuki's door to see if he's up yet?" Tohru requested timidly. Yuki and Kyo didn't get along well, it might turn out badly if they had to deal with each other this early.

"Sure," the redhead shrugged. He passed the Rat's door on his way to his own and rapped his knuckles on the wooden surface. There was a sleepy groan and some shuffling, so Kyo took that as a sign that the other boy was awake. He wasn't putting any more effort into it than that. He went to his own room, kicking the door shut behind him. He pulled off his clothes, one by one, peeling the cold, damp, things from his body.

He was standing in front of his closet, looking at his school uniform moodily when he decided…he had no desire to go to school.

He wanted to stay home today. Not just because school was boring, not just because the idiots in his class irritated him by being so kind and likable. Simply because he felt anxious he wanted to exercise, tire himself out and fall into blissful sleep.

He reached for his street clothes instead.

xxxxx

Akito rose from sleep to the smell of ozone in the air. Heavy and bursting with energy, her skin stung from the charge in the atmosphere. Her body thrummed as she got to her feet, her robe disheveled and sagging from one shoulder. She padded barefoot across the hardwood floors and flung open the screen doors with a great crash.

There was snow in the garden. Little birds hopped miserably over the top, trying not to sink into the icy dust.

She shivered, pulling her robe tighter around her. The air was fresh and clean, pure, like the white snow.

The fragile Head of the Sohma clan stepped off the porch and into the chill of her garden. She left tiny, light, footprints in her wake.

She stopped before the pond and looked up to the sky. It was early yet so it was still a dark navy color.

She licked her lips. The air tasted like lightening.

xxxxx

Yuki was awake. Opposed as he was to admitting it, he was, indeed, conscious. Cold as well. He burrowed down into his little Rat's nest and tried to go back to sleep.

He failed miserably of course, and shortly thereafter Tohru was knocking gently on the door.

The Rodent groaned and a muffled curse escaped his lips before she opened the door slowly.

"Yuki?" she called. "Yuki, its time to get up."

She was too sweet for him to throw something at her and snarl at her to get out, but he really wanted to. Some people just aren't wired for the morning.

"Yes, Miss Honda," he replied around a yawn, squirming about some more before actually making himself sit up. His head felt heavy and his eyes drooped and he almost fell back into bed.

He got to his feet and shambled slowly towards the bathroom. He was pleased that Kyo wasn't already in there. He probably would have had to kill the Cat. He got through the tiresome ordeal of washing teeth, hair, and face with only dozing off once or twice. Then it was lumbering back to his room to get into his uniform. His fingers were clumsy on the buttons and his legs stiff in the pants, but in the end, he managed.

He still wasn't entirely awake when he came down the stairs and entered the kitchen in search of foodstuffs.

Tohru was finishing up the lunchboxes and Kyo was nowhere in sight. Well, today seemed to be shaping up well!

Yuki got his juice, reaching blindly for the cup and the carton. He drank it without even opening his eyes, then sat down heavily at the table to wait.

Around 7:00 Tohru woke him up again and they went to put their shoes and coats on. Kyo was _still_ nowhere in sight. It irritated Yuki now. They weren't going to wait for the stupid Cat!

"Kyo?" Tohru called up the stairs, and got no answer.

"Cat!" Yuki echoed, and _still_ got no answer. "We are not going to wait for you!"

"Kyo?" the girl tried once more, going quickly up the stairs. The redhead wasn't in his room.

"Miss Honda we should not let him make us late," the Rodent muttered. "If he wants to skip today, let him."

"But he'll get in trouble," Tohru began to protest, as he pulled her out the front door. They backed up to the far side of the clearing the house stood in to see if Kyo was on the roof. It was a favorite perch of his…but he wasn't there.

"We are leaving now, Kyo!" Yuki repeated, and then gently dragged his friend along to school.

She fretted about the Cat as they crunched their way through the snow. Yuki only half listened from where he'd withdrawn into his coat beside her.

They arrived at the High School and headed inside right away. There weren't many who stayed outside. The snow ruled out the option of kickball games.

In the front locker room Yuki and Tohru met up with the other two Sohma children.

Haru looked at him and smiled, coming forward to hug Yuki.

"Where's Kyo?" the Ox asked mildly.

"I have no idea," the Prince sniffed.

Haru's smile widened. He reckoned Kyo was just too sore from the night before to walk. Hell, Haru had been pretty sore himself! That Cat was tight. And warm and his whole body was sensitive. No matter where he'd touched the redhead had made some kind of noise and squirmed. The way he writhed with pleasure was powerfully arousing.

Hatsuharu licked his lips remembering first in the bath…then again in Kyo's room. He wondered if Shigure had heard anything. He probably had, but he didn't think the Dog would say anything about it. As close as the man was to Akito, he would never snitch on them and ruin their fun. Especially not if he could watch. Haru considered bringing that up with Kyo. Maybe the Cat was a secret exhibitionist.

The thought was pleasant and he was sure he would get uncomfortably hard in a second if he didn't stop thinking about it. He looked at Tohru and pretended as if he'd been listening the entire time.

Thankfully, Tohru went with Yuki to talk to their homeroom teacher about one of the girl's assignments.

Finding Ms. Shiraki was quite a task. She was a strange woman that her students didn't honestly know much about. Yuki was aware that she had been in a short-lived romantic tangle with Shigure at one point…but that was about it.

When she wasn't in the classroom, they made their way to the teacher's lounge. She was there, sitting in a chair looking over papers. She seemed surprised and slightly irritated to see them. Then again, she always seemed irritated.

"What do you two need?" the woman asked brusquely.

"Well, ma'am," Tohru floundered, and Yuki picked up her slack.

"Miss Honda's grandfather is very ill. She has been tending to him recently and has found herself unable to complete her English report. If you would give her a few extra days I would volunteer myself to help her and make she sure gets it done," his tone was polite and measured, but Mayuko Shiraki still managed to find something to frown about.

"Do you need some extra time, Honda?" she asked.

"Y-yes, ma'am," the girl nodded sullenly.

"Okay," Mayuko smiled softly. "I'm sure Mr. Sohma will be plenty help for you, but if you need my help don't be afraid to ask."

"Oh! Thank you, Ms. Shiraki!" Tohru said, flushing, and bowing thankfully.

Yuki had to smile at how easily she was excited.

xxxxx

_She laid her gentle hands on her kinsman's shoulders. She massaged and soothed the tension and knots from his muscles. Warm energy flowed from her fingertips and the man let out a deep sigh, his stress leaving him. After a moment more, she pulled her hands away and stood. He followed suit._

_"Thank you, Kin," he said reverently, inclining his head to her. _

_"Think before you try to lift two pots full of clay next time." She beamed and he swooned as if he were a schoolboy; only her younger sister, Shinju, rivaled the lady Kin's beauty. Both were splendid women, kind, helpful, and their eyes, like warmed honey, always carried the hint of a smile. They were the jewels of the Tooi village._

_Gold and Pearl._

xxxxx

Hatori paced his study like a great caged beast. After seeing to Akito in the morning he had tried to do some paperwork, to read, anything! But he found his mind wrenched from every task. He eventually accepted that he would get nothing done, but that did not mean he liked it.

So, he was, pacing back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. His mind was a jumbled mass of nothing, nothing, nothing.

Sleep had come with amazing ease the night before; a deep sleep, as if he'd been dropped into a lake weighted with a rock.

Considering just how damn restless he was, it was quite an accomplishment to just fall asleep like that!

He moved towards a different room, he was tired of watching his bookcases go past.

In his march he passed his foyer several times before stopping there. He stood, tapping his food, drumming his fingers soundlessly on his arms as they were crossed over his chest. Then he walked away, searching for the telephone.

He was in no mood for Ayame, but Shigure…the phone rang and rang. Hatori rubbed at his forehead impatiently. He let out a low curse when no one answered.

Well, perhaps Shigure had gone out for a little while. Maybe he was still asleep? Maybe he was in his study and hadn't heard the ringing of the phone?

Hatori decided to find out. He went hurriedly back to the foyer, pulling on his shoes, crushing the backs with his heels and not caring in the slightest. He headed out the door, but turned around to get his coat. Then he was ready…but for the keys to his car.

He felt in a kind of frenzy by the time he was on the road. By then he was wondering if he should be driving at all.

Unlike last night, there were people out on the streets today. Shoveling walkways, navigating their way through the snow. It was slowly leaving snow state and becoming more slush under the onslaught of the sun, but if he squinted off to the North you could see more fluffy clouds being blown. More snow would take its place; the temperature would drop when the sun went to bed in the night.

Hatori slammed on his brakes at a stop sign and sighed. He hadn't been paying attention. He waited for the other cars to go and continued on the familiar path to his cousin's home.

The heater in his car was far too hot; he reached to turn it off just to find it wasn't on at all. He rolled down the window and received some strange looks from the pedestrians, their breath streaming out in front of them in the cold.

The drive to Shigure's was sort of like Hell. Hatori nearly forgot how to get there in his haste. His autopilot confused and bewildered along with the rest of him. The heat was searing in him. The small lane to the private clearing where Shigure's house stood seemed to stretch on forever and ever. The same trees passing by his windows every time.

He finally saw it though, the steam from a vent on the roof, the wooden panels of the walls, the shutters on the windows. Despite his rush to get here, when the car stops before the house, he just sits in the car staring at it. As if its something magnificent…wonderful, amazing! At last his anxiety stirs and he gets out of his car quickly.

As he moved to the porch, his eyes caught a movement…Kyo tumbled into the clearing, leaping over a stump and rolling forward. He was back to his feet in seconds, jumping, twirling, spinning out a complex assortment of kicks and punches, blocks and checks with imaginary foes that he seemed quite intent on killing.

His bare feet slid through the snow, but he didn't slip. He was almost floating above the freezing dust. Flowing, strong, wild. His kata ended and he stood panting wildly in the center of the clearing, heady, dense, puffs escaping past his lips. His face flushed with exertion, his eyes shining brightly, and his clothing plastered to him with sweat.

The redhead turned his head, looking at Hatori out of the corner of his eye. The world spun and Kyo swayed…the doctor almost rushed to him to catch him…almost. Then the world righted itself, the sky seemed darker, but at least it was once more above their heads. The Feline said nothing, turned his back, tearing away his red demon eyes and headed back into the forest.

Hatori stood staring after him for a moment. Shouldn't Kyo be at school? Was he all right?

Wasn't he here to see Shigure?

He turned to knock on the door. Shigure answered it, but looked a bit cross. The look faded immediately as he recognized Hatori.

"My dear friend!" he crooned in that obnoxious way of his. Tori found it oddly soothing. "Come in! Come on," the Dog pulled his friend in. "Why the unannounced visit?"

Hatori hadn't been listening, at all. His eyes snapped back to focus at the question. "Because I could."

"Oh? Hatori doing something impulsive?" Shigure teased. The dragon shrugged. "Well, I am definitely pleased to see you," the other man added. "I don't have to do any writing if I have company!"

Shigure Sohma, the laziest Writer in history.

The two friends headed towards the kitchen, but Hatori didn't want to sit down and drink tea. Shigure looked up at him, sensing the strange tension rolling off him.

"Why are you here?" he repeated.

"I felt stifled at home."

"Is it better here?"

"A little."

Shigure made a noise like he understood but how could he?

"I'll make tea," the Dog said, frowning.

"Hmm, I am going to the restroom," Hatori decided with a shrug, turning on heel and leaving the other man alone in the kitchen and mightily confused.

Tori wasn't sure what the point was. He didn't need to use the restroom; he was just going up there so he wouldn't just be standing around in the kitchen watching Shigure make tea.

His feet took him up the stairs and down the hall as his mind wandered elsewhere. He shut the door behind him and just stood before the porcelain sink, staring at his reflection.

There was nothing different about him. It was the same reflection from yesterday, and the day before, and the day before.

He brushed his bangs from his eyes and looked _harder_, as if that would reveal something he'd missed. Something important. But he came up with absolutely nothing. He turned on the tap, and splashed some water on his face before exiting the bathroom.

He didn't know if Kyo had been waiting or if it was coincidence…but the Cat stepped out of his darkened doorway. Hatori hadn't heard the boy come in the front door but he supposed the redhead could have climbed back in the window of his room.

It didn't matter. He _looked_ at the Feline. Just looked and there he was. He was shimmering. Hatori blinked his eyes and the strange trick of the light stopped; he assumed that's what it had been, at least.

The hallway closed in on them both, shadows lengthening. The air crackled and his blood roared. The world spun once more, but this time, Kyo's eyes kept him anchored to the floor. He felt upside down, but this time, he wasn't freefalling. This time, Kyo wasn't swaying with the disorientation.

The teenager held out one bronzed hand. Hatori took it, and it felt damp with sweat and he didn't care.

He followed the boy's lead. Followed into the Cat's den.

They shut the door noiselessly behind them and before there could be any thought as to what had lured them into this they were at each other.

Kyo tasted the way a wild orchid smelled…Hatori wanted more, he pushed deeper into his younger cousin's mouth with his tongue.

Hatori was vaguely aware of the other's hands on the back of his neck and barely aware of his own hands on the small of Kyo's back.

The kid was cold and wet against him, still sweaty, with coolness clinging to him from the outdoors. Hatori was almost surprised that steam wasn't still coming from the young man's mouth.

It felt fantastic and Tori crushed them together desperately. Whatever frenzy had been winding itself around their hearts had them now. Their restlessness was ready to take wing and spend itself.

His skin sparked and Kyo made an odd sound. It was somewhere between a sob, a whimper, a growl…or maybe the boy was singing?

Kyo reached past him to lock the door and then the last of the walls were battered down and they tore at clothing…The lights were off and the shades were drawn; the garments were lost somewhere in the dark of the room.

They were oblivious to whatever attractiveness they might have found in each other's bodies…a blind consuming lust took over. It was a need to use the built up energy, to distract themselves from the overwhelming rush of power.

Kyo hissed in pain as Hatori prodded his opening with the head of his cock. He was still sore from his excursions with Hatsuharu the night before; the sound gave the Doctor pause. He almost drew away, but then the Cat snarled and dragged him closer, thrusting back to meet him.

The flame that spread through his body was extraordinary and he made a choked off noise, rocking back against the man.

The way his muscles clutched at Hatori was too much. The way the boy rocked his hips, circled, and flexed. Too much.

The whole situation was too much for comprehension.

They watched each other as they moved: raw, dark, wild, feral, smoldering, flaming.

Red demon eyes to green dragon eyes. Lost in murky depths of desire. Taken with each other, with barely even a look…a sinister convoluted seduction that neither had been aware of. What happened? Why had this built until they'd fairly attacked each other with need? Where did Kyo's reservations go? Hatori's legendary stoicism? Flushed away with a gloomy tide of tension.

They orgasmed together: a core shaking and intense flood.

They _lost _themselves. They flickered in their existence and fought. Dragon to Demon: their magic at odds in a bright flash around them. Draconic claws on Demonic flanks, caressing a wound from a dream…Flickering…

"Aah!" Kyo gasped, throwing his head back, arching his back, thrusting down on Hatori, his thighs shaking as they tensed.

Too much…too much…too much…

Hatori collapsed over the boy sweaty, sticky, content. The redhead was gulping for breath, his jeweled eyes lidded tiredly. The Doctor held his younger cousin tight to him as his own heart rate slowed…His eyes drooping…he fell asleep, the little Demon child crushed to him.

xxxxx

Shigure stirred his tea with a jerky motion of his wrist.

Stifled at home…

That's what Hatori had said.

The Dog could relate. He scratched idly at his head before getting up, in need of movement. He headed up the stairs to make sure his friend hadn't fallen into the toilet.

When he came to the second story landing, he saw the door to the restroom open and the room itself empty.

Well then, Shigure sighed. He wasn't surprised. He imagined the Dragon had gone out for a walk to try and ease the restlessness that seemed the have settled on them all.

He shivered as a strong odor went past his nose.

Sand and orchids and shadows, so strong that he couldn't even begin to contemplate what the other scents were.

The Writer shook his head and went downstairs. Hatori would be back because his car was still out-front.

In the meantime, Shigure headed into his study, intent on beating down his basest animal urge: _to run_.

xxxxx

Kyo woke up in a different position from the one he fell asleep in. As his eyelids rose lazily, he realized he was lying on top of Hatori, his cheek resting on the Dragon's shoulder. He didn't care how he'd gotten like that, and let his eyes close again. He shifted a little, grimacing at the pain in his legs and the way he was sort of…stuck to Hatori from all the sweat. His skin felt stiff, on top of it all.

He still…didn't care. His tongue darted out to taste the enticing flesh of the Doctor's neck. Salty and tangy and wonderful, it sent a jolt of heat through his languid body.

_Hatori is so warm_, Kyo thought, listening intently to the man's steady pulse beneath him.

It seemed so right to be like this. Their ages didn't factor in. Their different standings in the Family didn't cross his mind. Gender wasn't an issue. Tohru wasn't a thought and Haru barely a notion. For now, at least.

For now, Hatori was stirring and his large, thin fingers delving into the fine hair at the nape of his companion's neck. Kyo opened his eyes and a dark look passed between them.

"Will you need me to take a look at you?" Tori asked.

"Maybe," the redhead shrugged as much as he could in this position.

Hatori averted his eyes uncomfortably. "I am sorry if I hurt you."

"Shh," the Cat hissed.

"Kyo," the man protested. The boy cut him off with a rough kiss. Hatori fell silent, though he knew eventually they would have to talk. The issue could be delayed for a little while yet…he hoped. They lay in heavy silence, before Kyo lifted his head once more.

"Shower?" he suggested around a yawn. Hatori suppressed a smile and sat up, wincing at the stiffness in his body. Well, he supposed he deserved that. He scooped up the teenager, despite protest, and they snuck into the bathroom quickly.

Neither was very fond of the idea of Shigure catching them like this, _this_ being naked, together, and smelling most definitely of sex.

Hatori set Kyo down on the floor beneath the showerhead and hurried back to lock the door, only then did he feel safe enough to come back and turn on the water.

He had no illusions that Shigure wouldn't hear the pipes, but at least the Dog wouldn't know Kyo was in here with him.

The redhead was grimacing on the tiles and shifting on his sore backside, so the Dragon helped him back to his feet. The boy wobbled and his older cousin caught him, holding him to broad chest.

A warm puff of air ghosted across his collarbone. He shivered…maybe he'd turn the hot water on? He usually didn't bother, as showers were quick, baths were the long endeavors. But this was not the usual.

"We should talk," Hatori found himself mumbling.

"Let's not," the Feline nixed.

"Kyo," the Dragon tried again but this time, his breath caught in his throat. The young man was just looking at him. It was an innocent look, without guile or hidden meaning, just like the look he'd had in the hall, when things had first begun to spiral out of their control. Eyes that burned into the forest green of his own…smoldering embers that were making Hatori sweat profusely. Or perhaps that was the steam of the water. "Oh, Kyo…"

They clung to each other under the water, because that was all they could do.

After what felt like an eternity, Hatori groped blindly for a cloth and carefully scrubbed the dried sweat off their bodies. As inexplicably attractive as he suddenly now found Kyo was, he just wanted to clean them up and return to the safe haven of the boy's room.

He still didn't feel as if he could separate himself from the Cat. He rather envied the washcloth that he ran over the boy's skin. That was just one more point of contact that he felt he would die without…He hurried to finish wiping them down and then turned the water off. He helped the sore teenager to sit down while he found warm fluffy towels to wrap them both in. His heart clenched to see all that tan skin hidden beneath one of the green towels.

The Dragon would have continued to stare if Kyo hadn't urged him back to the bedroom.

"We can talk now," the redhead announced as he flopped onto his bedroll, curling up, to conserve warmth, within the blankets. "Does Shigure think you're still here?"

"My car is out front," the man admitted.

"What are you going to tell him?"

"I am not sure yet," Hatori shrugged, "but that is not what I want to talk about, Kyo."

The kid frowned at him he didn't want to talk about the absolutely mind-blowing sex they had just partaken in. He understood it though. The feelings of pent up energy welling up inside him were nothing new. They had just never come to a head before. He was a demon, the magic that lay latent in him was stirred up and it desperately wished to build, multiply, to find strength in numbers. He understood, but it was on such a base, primal, level that he would never be able to explain to Hatori in words. This thing had happened for no better reason than they were Demon and Dragon, magical creatures with sleeping energy.

"Don't worry about it. It won't happen again," the Feline assured him.

"How can you be so sure?" Hatori wondered, he sounded troubled and afraid.

"Trust me," his young cousin shrugged. "You should leave now, before anyone sees you."

The older man was thrown off to be so casually dismissed. "Kyo, I truly am sorry…"

"Don't be, just get out," Kyo finally snapped.

Apparently, that, as they say, was that.

xxxxx

Hatori had been gone for barely half an hour when the other residents of the household returned from school. It was only then that Shigure noticed that Kyo had not gone with them.

He wondered if the Dragon and Cat had disappeared together…though he couldn't imagine what they would have been doing.

At the top of the stairs, Yuki paused outside of his rival's room. After a moments consideration he knocked.

"What?" Kyo called in a hoarse voice.

A strange smell assaulted the rat and his thoughts fled his mind. He was silent, trying to catch them again.

"What?" Kyo repeated irritably.

"Haru was worried that you were not at school today," his cousin decided before fleeing into Tohru's room to help her with her project.

xxxxx

_He'd been here once before. Disguised: Frankish and fair._

_The men of Tooi called him Aoi, it meant pale, and they meant it to be as derogatory as possible. The women called him Awai, to mean light. They all thought the foreigner was very attractive, all the women except for the young sisters who ruled the village. Since the death of their father Kin and Shinju had taken care of the village most judiciously. They were pleasant to their guest, but they were far too busy to moon over him like the other girls. To them he was a simply a Gaijin, foreigner._

_He was set to fix that though._

_"Hello, Madame Kin," he greeted in sloppy Japanese. _

_"Hello, Gaijin," the woman replied from her desk, a thin finger following the lines of accounts in her ledger._

_"The name given to me in Francia was Basil, ma'am," he said, his eyes crinkling in delight. _

_"I see," Kin acknowledged and then looked up, blinking in owlishly the gloom of the room. "Are you in need of something then, Basil?" She frowned at how clumsily her tongue rolled over that name._

_"I have come to ask her wonderful, beautiful, lady Kin to join me for the afternoon meal," Basil informed her, grinning and revealing white, pointed canine teeth._

_The lady looked down at her ledger ruefully. "I would be…honored, sir." _

_The outsider ran a hand over his plait of blonde hair then held out a polite hand to Kin. She stared at the hand oddly for a moment, but never took it. _

_They strolled together through the village to the small inn. Traders passed through now and again, but today, it would serve for the locals. _

_Kin was greeted brightly and the serving maid lowered her eyes from Basil, blushing fiercely. They were seated, Kin forced to kneel in the restriction of her kimono. She poured Basil a cup of tea courteously and they waited in a somewhat companionable silence for their food to be served. _

_When the bowls of rice and the thin slivers of fish arrived, Basil made a bit of a face._

_"I am not sure if I will ever be accustomed to this Japanese food…I miss the large steaming hunks of meat back in Francia."_

_Kin smiled radiantly and laughed._

* * *

**Standard Disclaimers**_  
_


	3. Chapter 3

**Friday, December 15, 2000**

At 7:00 Doctor Hatori Sohma began his usual morning routine. He rose from bed feeling well rested and ready for his day. Then he shambled towards his bathroom to shower.

The stiffness of his legs was unusual but he tried not to think about that. If he thought about it too much he would be forced to remember just what had gone on the day before. Kyo hadn't seemed to mind but the whole ordeal made Hatori distinctly uncomfortable. He focused on showering.

He immerged quickly, finding a towel for his hair as he went back to his bedroom. Still a bit damp, he began to dress. There was no such thing as casual for the Dragon, as he pulled on an entire three-piece suit. Only once he had his socks on and his hair combed neatly was he ready to face the day.

He never had breakfast in the mornings before he headed out to visit Akito, but today he was ravenous. He scrounged around for a piece of fruit that he could eat as he made his way to the Family Head's quarters.

When he arrived at the double doors, he knelt down to roll them open. Akito tossed a book at him and said he should sit there and wait for half an hour. He had been prepared for this of course. When Akito was moody she liked to arbitrarily tell him to wait. So he drew a medical journal from within his briefcase and began to kill time.

An hour later, when he had long since finished reading the article '_Confronting the Problem of Increasing Antibiotic Resistance' _Akito's right-hand man, Kureno, opened the screens to allow Hatori inside.

As the Curse took its toll on its central node, Akito was sick more and more often, but today seemed to be one of good fortune. The girl seemed not only healthy but also full of energy.

"When we're finished, will you go for a walk with me, Hatori?" she asked in a deceptively sweet voice. She knew he had no choice but to say yes, but it was fun to toy with her Zodiac in this way, taunting them with the freedom of choice.

"Of course," the Doctor replied inattentively, and then turned to dig around through his bag.

He had a stethoscope pressed to Akito's bare chest when a maid came to the door.

"Akito, sir?" she asked uncomfortably.

"What is it?" the girl snapped, pulling her kimono tight around her, to hide her chest. She trapped Hatori's hand inside the fabric as she did this, but he kept his cool.

"There is a man here to see you, sir!" the maid explained, throwing herself forward into the lowest bow she could manage.

"Who is it?" Akito frowned. She hadn't been expecting anyone.

"He didn't say!"

"Well, then what does he want?" Akii growled. She didn't like having her time wasted like this. Her dark eyes narrowed dangerously.

"He didn't say!" the poor young woman repeated.

"Tell him to leave then."

"Yes, sir!" the girl sat up and quickly rolled the screen doors shut as she left. Akito finally loosened her hold on her kimono, allowing Hatori's hand free. She let the fabric slip over her shoulders so the Doctor could press the instrument to her back. He brushed away a long strand of her dark hair in order to do this. His hand paused in midair though as the door opened again.

A man strolled in quite casually pushing the door shut with his foot once he was inside. He was an entirely unremarkable Japanese man: short, dark haired, olive skin, and dark eyes set to a slant. The only slightly interesting thing about him was that his black three-piece suite was covered with dust and he smelled of gasoline and exhaust.

"Get out," Akito snarled immediately, clutching her clothing to her chest again. She was playing the part of a strong, **male**, Head of the Family and that was difficult when her checkup was continually interrupted. Kureno moved forward menacingly to intercept the man. He came up short when the stranger dropped down into a bow before Akii.

"Greetings," he said in a voice that made the girl shiver. "Lady, I have come far to see you."

Hatori watched all of this in mute fascination.

"Get out!" Akito repeated, her voice rising to a frightened pitch. "Kureno! Make him leave!"

Kureno, the Rooster of her Zodiac, reached down taking the much smaller man's forearms and tugging. The intruder lashed out, sending Kureno flying. In that moment of chaos, Hatori stood and moved in front of Akito protectively. The man looked at the Dragon strangely, his brow furrowing.

"Akii," he purred, holding out a hand, beckoning her to him. She plastered herself to Hatori's back fearfully, barely even glancing at where Kureno lay crumpled amongst the ruined screens. "I've finally come to see you. You and your brother."

"I don't have a brother!" Akito hissed like a caged feline. The man took a step forward, but Hatori held out a hand to ward him off…

"Come my sweet Akii," he said. A strange sensation rolled through the room, making Hatori's palpitations race and Akito shiver violently against his back.

"GET OUT!" the young Head screamed, squeezing her eyes shut. Maids and other staff came running at the sound of her scream, they clustered in the doorway, staring at the strange man.

"You should see yourself out now," Hatori commanded, though his voice was shaky, at best.

The man's face contorted angrily as he began to back up, but before he left he…he killed one of the maids. The girl shrieked in pain from a wound that hadn't been inflicted, then she crumpled to the ground. There was an uproar and servants scrambled out of the man's path as he left the Sohma Compound.

Akito was shaking against Hatori. He turned and enveloped her into his arms, thankful that the Curse was null with her. He was in no mood to be changed into his Zodiac.

"All of you! Get out!" Akii yelled furiously as she clung to Hatori's vest.

xxxxx

Larissa chuckled to herself as her dream ended. She opened her eyes slowly, letting the blue around the edges of her vision fade.

She squirmed happily in the bed of her hotel room, dark curls tumbling over her face as she moved.

Then she crooned excitedly to the dark shadows lurking in the corners, "I know something he doesn't know!"

xxxxx

He had no plans to go to school today. Kyo closed his eyes tighter when the sun began to penetrate his dreams. Tohru was moving…then Yuki…Kyo didn't stir.

"Kyo!" Tohru called, rapping her knuckles against his door. She received no response so she began to open the door warily. Kyo shifted and made quite a show of looking at her miserably. "Oh! Are you sick?"

"Nnn," Kyo groaned. He felt some kind of pang for lying to her. It faded quickly.

She sat down beside him and brushed her pale fingertips over his forehead.

"You are a bit hot, should I stay home with you?"

"No," Kyo croaked. "Go to school…stupid girl," he added as an afterthought. He heard her going through her daily routine only managing to leave behind an air of concern in her wake. Infuriating.

However, the Cat felt the lethargy taking over and his eyes slipped shut again, sleeping claiming him soon after.

He did not appreciate the second rude awakening. He had no idea of what time it was, but someone was jerking at his shoulder and he wanted to claw their eyes out, whoever they were.

The silver familiarity and the hot scent of tang and sweat were the only things to stop him. He could never fail to recognize Kazuma, especially not when the man was leaned over him radiating of disapproval and concern.

"Good morning."

"Shishou." It was a little bit like being tasered and maybe a lot like being flogged with guilt. "I'm sorry. I've missed my lessons." Automatic, almost truthful.

"You've been skipping school, again. I thought you were over this—" The quiet resignation burned. Kyo's blood roared and his head swam. He had no idea how to convey his distress. When his eyes began to water he gave a weak cough that cut his father off mid-reprimand. He stared for a long, silent, moment and then reached to turn on the lights. "I'm calling Hatori."

Kyo really could have laughed.

xxxxx

_He was charming. Basil, that was. _

_Charming and…he must have been attractive by his people's standards. A long, heavy plait of perfectly golden hair, sharp crystal blue eyes, tall and strong bodied. _

_He was attractive even by her own standards and he quickly began to distract her. Ledgers were left uncounted. Stocks left un-surveyed. Taxes never recorded. _

_Shinju watched with quiet glee for her sister and yet an unnamed trepidation haunted her._

_"Are you sure we can trust him, sister?" she whispered, one night, as she helped to comb Kin's hair. Her sister looked back at her through the mirror, her pale face flushed with joy._

_"I believe it is the will of the Gods that he has come to me."_

_Shinju could not help but smile. "My blessings."_

_Though her unease lingered._

xxxxx

He was furious.

The sky darkened and shadow sinew writhed within the swirling vortex of their sky-cage. Bars of molten ash and cloud.

The sea boiled, fish floating to the surface, breath gone from them forever.

The scent of corpses was tangible upon the air.

The scent of human corpses.

The sands at his feet burst into flames, superheating, melting.

The tides lapped at them and found in, their heat, their death.

He snarled, bearing unassuming teeth from within a small, round jaw.

Birds dropped dead from the sky.

xxxxx

She laughed, scoured her hotel room to see if she had forgotten anything.

Stuffed the last of her effects into her bag.

She was ready.

xxxxx

The Dragon flew anxiously.

The sky was dark and ominous and he just couldn't hold still.

The drive was infuriating.

He would have preferred to run to Shigure's house, but some part of his sanity must have remained, some part of his self-control.

Something that he seemed to be sorely lacking these past few days.

He was not entirely sure he was ready to see Kyo again.

Not entirely sure he could report on the boy's condition in a professional manner.

He didn't even think he could examine him, not without feeling some surge of entirely inappropriate emotion.

The last few miles of the drive were absolutely blank to him, he could not recall moving through the forest, nor exiting his car and knocking on the door. The trip up the stairs, even, was muzzy.

Then Kazuma's face was suddenly very close to his own and he looked tenser than he had, even when he had stolen away Kyo's beads.

"Please." Was all the man could say and the inflection was of such pure misery that Hatori felt his chest constrict and panic well up from his stomach.

He wanted to break, let the strain ebb from his body. He wanted to look up at his elder and ask, 'is Kyo all right?' The regression, the inability to embrace it; the responsibility: it was painful. He pushed past the instructor without letting their eyes meet and hurried his steps to Kyo's side.

The boy look wretched, his skin was gray and his eyes were swollen, as were his sinuses and lymph nodes. The demon-child coughed feebly. Once. Twice.

The scent of orchids forced their way in.

The room heated several hundred degrees.

"I need to get him to my office."

It was a controlled sort of terror, one that Kazuma responded to with such ease. Hatori was thankful that someone was somehow keeping cool, even though Kazuma's arms were shaking and Kyo very well might have been dying.

His breath was wheezing in and out of lungs.

Kazuma automatically took the boy to the car waiting out front.

Hatori didn't have enough patience! He wanted to take Kyo into his own arms and run and run and run and run and…

He told Kazuma to drive.

Crawled into the backseat, where the Cat lay stretched out, and began to dig through his shiny bag. (Why did it look like a shining beetle shell? Filthy, dirty and an unaccountable fear why, why, why?) He looked for an inhaler, fingers fumbling with complete ineffectiveness. The bag seemed endless and he had the irrational idea that something inside the bag would bite off his fingers.

He had to yank them out, stare and turn and touch to make sure they were all right and then steel his courage to reach back in again.

When he finally found the medicine it was a battle to force open Kyo's mouth, hold him there, administer and not even be entirely sure that it had gone down the redhead's throat.

The car was going too slowly, even as the scenery went blurring past.

And they came upon the main compound far too fast.

Time fluctuated around them and Kyo gasped.

His eyes fluttered halfway open and then he whimpered, high and strident from his throat.

The wild-eyed look Kazuma tossed back at them both was like that of a wildebeest ready to stampede and the animal smell unlocked something dangerous from within the Dragon's fleshy shell.

He picked Kyo up and went where his instincts directed.

xxxxx

He had said to meet at midnight, upon the hill overlooking the village. He had said it with his eyes coyly downcast and his fingers, strong, wonderful, fingers, brushing the inside of her wrist.

_She waited._

_And just as the moon seemed ready to overflow he appeared._

_Shadows clinging to his form._

_His movements impossibly graceful._

_His eyes…his eyes unusually brilliant._

_He was resplendent in the moonlit bath._

_"Kin."_

_His voice was full of rough, gravely, affection and she moved forward into his arms, her mouth seeking his with wild abandon._

_Hands ruffling the edges of inconvenient clothing. _

_And much more._

_Until she was spread over her own kimono like a common prostitute and finding undiluted joy in the experience._

_Until something appeared at the edge of her vision and, as if looking into a mirror, she saw Shinju. _

_Her eyes were wide with the horror that she, herself, should have felt._

_In that snapping instant she gasped and pushed._

_Basil complied, sitting back on his haunches, grinning at her horribly._

_"It's too late for second thoughts, Kin."_

_She could feel her lower lip quiver, could feel Shinju's anger come to her defense._

_"No," she said with all the firmness she could summon in the face of the man she loved._

_Had loved._

_Until the moment his face contorted with rage and he struck her._

_"Ungrateful!"_

_Shinju ran to intervene, a knife, which she had suspected she would need, flashing grimly in her hand._

_Kin expected blood._

_To ruin her kimono, to stain her flesh. _

_Instead she saw Shinju flung away in the grass._

_And a demon._

_She heard Shinju give a helpless shriek of pain and watched as her body began to warp._

_Smelled the stench of rotting carcasses._

_But all she could do was stare up at the beast._

_Basil's true, dark, terrible form._

_Smiling down at her._

_She may have screamed as she struck out at him blindly._

_It didn't matter._

xxxxx

Her body was on fire and the word mother was like a sour mantra upon her lips.

The air crackled.

And she sobbed.

"Akito?" the Rooster inquired with fearful wonderment.

xxxxx

Black-Haru exploded suddenly and without warning.

Two girls had their arms broken that day as the sky raged outside.

xxxxx

Kagura just knew something was wrong, she could smell it.

xxxxx

And then the sky broke.

xxxxx

He didn't feel as if his feet were on the ground. His skin tingled, peeled away and everything felt like it was made of too much oxygen.

The demon cradled in the bends of his forelegs stirred uneasily; it's body bleeding and slowly dying.

The sky thundered and thousands of kin (_enemies_) came pouring from their cloud-like prisons.

He hurried, pushed on faster until his body was at its limit.

_Her_.

_Him_.

Her.

Him.

_It_.

**Self**.

She was screaming when he ripped his way through the screen doors. The Rooster lurked worriedly at her side, but his presence was a hindrance.

He was brusquely pushed aside, making way only for the siblings.

And then they waited.

Something rustled to his right.

And the presence drew closer.

Closer.

Smothering.

Maddening.

Enticing.

His scales thrummed.

xxxxx

She would get him this time.

xxxxx

_Shinju was hunched over, her limbs elongated, her ears much the same. Yet her appendages were disproportionate, her head had morphed, turning into something vaguely canine. Her skin was a rotting brown with a layer of metallic scales and…her eyes were the most appalling part of her transformation._

_Carmine red with dark diamond-esque slits for pupils._

_Kin's thoughts dragged horribly, trying to remember the image of her beautiful sister. _

_Her dearest friend, her closest confidant._

_Are you sure we can trust him, sister?_

_No! No! A thousand times, no!_

_Then her stomach began to burn and tears streamed unbidden down her face._

_She let out a sharp wail and looked up at Basil._

_The beast, swathed once again in shadows, leaving only burning eyes, the glint of teeth and horns and the hint of a spined tail, for her to see. _

_It grinned at her._

_And grunted when Shinju lunged at him, attacking violently until she was tossed away like a doll once more, her breath rattling in broken ribs. _

xxxxx

"I've come for you and your brother, my beautiful Akii."

He was different.

"You're different!" the girl bawled, burying her face into tiny trembling hands. "You should be golden!"

His barking laughter rang in their eardrums, resonating agonizingly.

Lightning ran without check through the sky.

The dragons and the demons drew closer.

"Come to me, girl."

He held out his hand, olive skin turned perfectly white in a flash of sky-bound electricity.

His eyes were so warm and inviting, like hearth fires. His voice was soothing and he smile was perfect and straight.

He was the father she had lost so long ago and she shuffled towards him, tripping over the hem of her robe, reaching out for him desperately.

The thunder tolled again.

"Stop!"

xxxxx

_He left them there. Flew away into the abyss on great leathery wings._

_The pain in her stomach was excruciating. She doubled over, clutching helplessly, listening to Shinju's labored breathing._

_When the sun began to rise, the pain at last abated and she crawled, naked, across the dew adorned grass, reaching out shaking fingertips to ghost over her sister's flesh._

_The smell made her want to vomit, but she was intent upon healing her. _

_Her body, however, remained cold._

_Before it had blazed, spreading from her belly outwards and now she felt as if she would freeze to death at any moment and…_

_The magic._

_The heated spread of magic with which she healed…it was gone and trying to tap into it created an extraordinary din inside of her head._

_It felt as if her skull would explode at any moment. _

_She collapsed to the grass beside her sister and wept like a child._

xxxxx

She could not allow the Demon to reclaim his children. She had hunted him for far too long to fail now.

She pointed the gun at him.

Thirteen bullets.

Blessed by a certain priest who just so happened to have the ear of God.

"Stop." She said again.

The Dragon and the boy were fading quickly.

Their magic shifting violently.

She would need them to fend off the others.

"Don't let him touch you," Larissa warned, tossing an arrogant strand of hair from deep eyes, which flashed with power in the flickering light.

He must be forced into changing his form.

xxxxx

_The fire spread and consumed her. _

_Her pregnancy lasted only nine weeks._

_Shinju sat at her side; her creamy, olive skin still bearing the dark purple and green bruises as a testament to their struggle. The ring of beads around her wrist: a mute guardian and enforcer to their curse._

_When Lady Kin perished from her own childbirth, the baby girl was already set to succeed her._

_Shinju named her Junko._

_Pure Child._

_It was with the vain hope that she would not bear the markings of her patronage._

_Junko had pallid skin and dark eyes._

_A skeletal frame and a terrible smile._

xxxxx

Hatori could feel Kyo dying beside him.

Knew with unchallengeable clarity that there were only two chances for his survival.

One of which was not truly an option at all.

However, more pressing still, was his certainty that, if the Cat died, he would soon follow.

Akito was pooled upon the floor, her body wracked with crying and still the Demon reached out to her, calling.

It could not be allowed to happen.

He knew.

He could smell the death emanating from the Demon and the faint scent of budding orchids from Kyo and he knew whom it was he was meant to defend.

The last semblances of his humanity fell away and his magic bubbled forth with an unbridled scream of delight.

The last thing he heard, before his ears were filled with the rush of wind and the crackle of forming scales, was the Demon's furious shouting.

"It should not be yours! I sealed it away!"

xxxxx

_It did not take long for news of the curse to spread. The family members, who had the misfortune of a blood connection with the beautiful sisters, discovered their involvement soon enough._

_Blight plagued the land._

_True plague ravaged the village._

_And Junko grew unnaturally quick._

_She asserted her terrible will with unquestioned ease._

_They were all at her mercy._

xxxxx

He was dying, even as his Demon struggled to wrench itself free from its entrapment within his body.

xxxxx

The growls must have been his own.

Because he was battling, his claws biting into flesh.

And he was losing.

Once the mortal was gone, there instead rose before him a great Demon and the oppressive presence of his storm-riding brethren made him weak.

But he did not lose heart.

To be killed or to surrender, either way he would die.

And the boy would die.

Everything was to be connected.

Even this battle.

He became hazily aware of the hellfire presence at his side, the fragrance of corpses bedecked with orchids. He did not turn his head, however he knew, somehow, the boy was beside him.

Together they were fang and claw.

Air and Fire.

And together they bore the pain as the Demon, at last, shed his guise, immerging full and resplendent in his evil.

Larissa took her shot, unmindful of the physical, human, barrier between herself and her prey.

One. Two. Three. Four.

xxxxx

_Junko chanted._ "_Five. Six. Seven."_

xxxxx

"Eight. Nine. Ten."

xxxxx

Eleven.

xxxxx

"Twelve," Akito sobbed.

xxxxx

"Thirteen," Kyo whispered, collapsing to the ground as a boy once more. His body bleeding and his essence fading.

The Demon was immolating.

Flaming and screaming and dying in the horribly permanent way that is unique to the unholy and the divine.

Hatori realized, in a flash of panic, that he had yet to revert back to his true body.

And as the other Dragons came roaring from the sky at frenzied speeds to save their master, he understood why.

He left the woman to finish the Demon.

He would protect them to the last.

* * *

**Standard Disclaimers**  



	4. Chapter 4

**Sunday, December 31, 2000**

The house was still decked out in festive colors. The Christmas tree was still fragrant in the living room. The snow was still falling with quiet, content, beauty.

Yet the house was empty.

Presents sat atop their wrappings, as if opened only to fulfill a mandate but without any interest on the items inside.

xxxxx

The air at the Compound was silent and subdued.

Akito was barricaded inside of his room, not even allowing Kureno to enter.

The others, the Juunishi, had not appeared for Christmas.

Though, there was no question that this was not the cause of the Head's distress.

Anyone who walked past his quarters could hear his broken, abandoned, sobbing.

xxxxx

She was going to leave on her next hunt.

She needed to.

Father Jamin had suggested she take a vacation but…after chasing the Demon for over ten years, she suddenly felt empty.

She needed to leave on her next hunt.

However, as she checked out from her hotel, she knew there was one thing she had put off for far too long.

The trek through Tokyo was not difficult, public transportation being as efficient as it was. The only difficulty she found was wrestling with her own guilt and self-doubt and worry and lack of direction.

For the first time in her life, Larissa Meyers was afraid.

Everything felt wrong.

Her skin, her hair, her hands.

She wondered whose forgiveness it was that she truly needed.

The boy was being cared for at the International Catholic Hospital at Naka-Ochiai.

She could have laughed, possibly, for, the irony of, that particular, boy being housed there, of all places, was not lost upon her.

It did not seem an occasion for laughing.

As she wrangled with the reception, she prepared herself to answer the questions she knew must inevitably come.

She navigated the sterile halls and entered the room, where the boy was being kept, without knocking.

The entirety of the former Juunishi awaited inside.

Though, it was the Dragon whose eye she first caught.

The man was seated closest to the bed, clutching anxiously at the coverlet.

She ignored the others and moved toward him.

He waited quietly as she commandeered a chair and sat before him.

She folded her hands in her lap and allowed him to speak.

"Why us?"

She had expected a different reaction, a different question. Although, this one was simple enough to answer and she knew exactly what he meant.

"Chance. Not everyone has the magic and his barrier curse wore thin."

"And him?"

"Bloodline, he was the highest concentration of the original Cat in this generation. Demon blood is different from genes. It is passed on fully to whomever fulfills its requirements."

The man, she did not know his name, looked toward the boy. She did not know what he was called either.

The others all around her remained absolutely silent. She glanced at them and could, from their energy signatures, have named which animal they had previously possessed.

_They must feel as empty and as lost as me_. Having suffered and trialed for years, expecting to feel jubilation and relief when at last the bane of their existence had been expunged…but found only emptiness.

"The curse is broken." She offered. It was all she could do. She had done it for them. The boy, the Cat, had just been unfortunate; it was his lot in life.

"Yes, thank you," the Dragon replied tightly. He looked toward the child lying ashen and motionless in the hospital bed. His longing was not difficult to interpret.

"I'm sorry." Though it was hollow. Everyone was aware and some it ruffled, others it saddened.

The man, with his dark-hair and willow eyes, did not look at her again. However, he held one last question.

"What would have happened if the Demon had touched them?"

He meant the children.

The siblings.

"He was their father. They would have become his children."

"They would have become Demons." Not a question at all.

The statement was, perhaps, the most painful part of the entire proceeding.

"Yes."

"Thank you."

**Tuesday, February 13, 2001**

Kyo lingered in the doorway, uncertain but exhausted. Since losing everything to the Demon, he had spent the better part of his time exhausted.

Hatori said the woman had explained before she'd left.

That they had all drawn heavily from residual magic and from the curse and from their animals.

Himself, most of all.

Without the Demon blood, without the Demon itself, without the Cat, without the beads, he was left drained and would have to rebuild his body slowly over time.

Hatori, of course, left out how she had said 'if he ever wakes up'.

That did not matter.

Kyo still bore thirteen wretched scars and one Holy bullet that had been too close to his organs to remove.

Hatori was uncertain as to how he survived, but he was willing to say it was the Gods will, what for his relief.

Now, Kyo lingered in the doorway. Tired and smelling of the herbal concoction Larissa had left to help speed his recovery.

It was nothing at all like orchids.

"Please come in, Kyo."

They had not spent much time apart since Kyo's awakening.

It seemed a physical impossibility to separate at times.

The smell of sand and of flowers was like an addiction, some part of themselves that still cried out desperately for the other.

"Are you sure?"

Somehow, he had eventually allowed Kyo to go back to school and to visit Kazuma. Yet it hurt him. Not just him, Kyo would always hurry back before his scheduled time.

"Yes."

The boy moved slowly, carefully, delicately, deliberately favoring his right side, which caused him less pain. He sat himself gingerly at the edge of the futon at the Doctor's side.

The empty space left by accumulative magic, which had set brewing for thousands of years, did not ache nearly so badly when they were this close together.

The redhead watched him in silence for a long moment and spoke at great length.

"Today is…"

"Yes."

"Tomorrow is…"

"Yes."

Kyo looked up at him through his lashes, cerise eyes full of an emotion Hatori had no difficulty identifying.

"I used to fool around with Haru."

"Would you like to get married?"

"What? No."

Hatori smiled gently, exposing his teeth, which…Kyo sometimes imagined were fangs once again. The thought sent shivers down his spine.

He reached out for the man, unsure and inquisitive like a true kitten. His fingers snagged on his shirt and…Hatori sometimes imagined they were claws once more. The thought made him embrace the boy.

"I don't think I can live without you, you know," Hatori explained, holding his demon tightly in his arms.

The boy shifted and looked up at him once more. "I know. I…me too."

"I'm sorry." His apology was empty; it was a heavy sort of melancholy that Hatori could not find within himself to exactly dislike.

Kyo stared at him in surprise and then pulled his head downwards, forcing their lips together.

"Don't be."

For one desperately needed second their essences fought once more.

xxxxx

_Demon Inheritance. Fire consuming Air. Draconic Magic. Air feeding Fire._

xxxxx

And then harmless tranquility returned.

"We'll celebrate tomorrow," he said breathlessly and the boy smiled drowsily in reply.

"Goodnight."

في النهايه. فليطمءن.

* * *

End

* * *

**Standard Disclaimers**


End file.
